Machines



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

.J. HOOKER. INDIGATOR MECHANISM FOR TYPE SETTING MAGHINES. No. 495,588.

Patented Apr. 18, 189-3.

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Turuonms Pains co, moroumu. WASHINGTON n c (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. HOOKER. INDIGATOR MECHANISM FOR TYPE SETTING MACHINES. No. 495,588.Patented Apr. 18, 1893.

(No Model.) 7 I Q 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. HOOKER. INDICATOR MECHANISM FOR TYPE SETTING MACHINES.

Patented Apr. 18', 1893.

vln ml will! ii Lt rare. TATES JOHN HOOKER, OF BECOLES, ENGLAND.

INDICATOR MECHANISM FOR TYPE-SETTING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 495,588, dated April18, 1893.

Application filed January 16, 1893. Serial No. 453,612. (No model.)

1'0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN HOOKER, printer, a subject of the Queen ofGreat Britain, residing at Lancaster Place, Station Road, Beccles, inthe county of Suffolk, England, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in indicator mechanism to be used with type-settingmachines to indicate when any line that has been set up is too long ortoo short, of which the following is a specification.

My improvements relate to mechanism for giving warning to the operatorusing a type setting machine should any line of type issuing from themachine be either too short or too long beyond some short limit whichcan readily be rectified when the lines come to be justified (that ismade absolutely to correct length) either by hand or by justifyingmechanism.

According to my invention I cause the continuous line of type as itcomes from the composing machine to travel along below two catchescarried by two slides which when the catches catch on to the foremosttype of any of the lines are drawn forward until the catches are trippedby coming against fixed inclines the slides are then drawn back bysprings. Each slide carries a contact piece, and when these contactpieces come into contact with one another an electric circuit iscompleted and a bell rung, thereby giving warning that one of the linesis either too long or too short. The parts are arranged in such mannerthat if the first of the catches commences to be drawn forward by thetype before the second catch commences to be drawn forward by reason ofthe line in advance of the first catch being too short the contactpieces are thereby brought into contact and the bell rung but if theline in advance of the first catch is too long and the second catchafter being carried forward by the type gets liberated from the type anddrawn back before the first catch is liberated the contact pieces arelikewise brought together and the bell rung.

Figures 1 to 11 show the mechanism. Fig. 1 is a front View, Fig. 2 aplan and Fig. 3 a cross section on the line a, Z), Fig. 1. Fig. i is aback view of the contact piece f Fig. 5 is an under side view of thepiece 0' and Fig. 6

a cross section on the line c d, Fig. 1.

the type.

Figs. 7 and 8 are plan and side views of the pieces K and L. Figs. 9 and10 are views similar to Fig. 1 but with the type and parts in differentposition to illustrate the working of the mechanism. Fig. 11 is a planof the piece Ill and part of the line of type shownlin Fig. 10.

a is a channel along which a continuous line of type bis made to travelin the direction of the arrow Fig. 1.

c is a guard of wood fixed in any convenient manner to the back of thechannel above the type, and which keeps the type from being accidentallydisplaced. In the drawings it is shown to be heldin place byits lefthand end entering a socket a fixed to the back of the channel and by athumb screw (1..

e is a metal plate secured to the front of the guard c, and having aflange 0 extending outward from its bottom edge.

ff are slides capable of being slid to and fro between the plate 6 andplates e, which are fixed to it, distance pieces 6 being between them,the slides ff are slotted as shown and the distance pieces lie in theseslots.

9 g are springs by which the slides are drawn back until the right handend of the slots comes against the righthand of the distance pieces.

h h are catchesjointed to the slides. These catches are pressed downwardby springs t'. t" so that their ends project downward through slots inthe flange c and rest upon the type which are traveling along thechannel a.

70 7c are stops fixed to the flange c. When the catches are drawnforward by the travel ing line of type, the inclined forward ends of thecatches come after a time against these stops and are thereby lifted andreleased from The slides are then drawn back by their springs.

Z is a lever pivoted to an arm 70 which eX-.

tends from the stop 70 as shown clearly in Figs. 7 and 8.

Z is a spring fixed to the tail end of. the le- 9 ver Z: it bears uponthe type as shown, and tends to press downward the right hand end of thelever.

h is a projection on the side of the catch. The tail end of the lever l,strikes against IOO . this projection and raises the catch whenever theright hand end of the lever is not resting upon the type.

f is a block of insulating material fixed to the slide f f is a springcontact piece carried by this insulating block and coupled to one poleof a battery by an insulated wire f.

f is a contact plate fixed to the slide f, and in electrical connectionwith the other pole of the battery. An electric bell is placed in thebattery circuit so that whenever the circuit is completed the bell isrung.

The ,action of the mechanism is as follows: Normally both slides ff aredrawn back by their springs into the position shown in Figs.

1, 2 and 9, and the catchesh h rest upon the type as shown in Figs. 1and 2. When a line which is too short is passing below the catch h, thiscatch will as soon as the short line has passed beyond it, catch on tothe end of the next line as shown at Fig. 9 and the catch will be drawnforward with the type before the catch it commences to be similarlydrawn forward,and so the contactf is drawn against the contact f and thebell is rung. If the short line forms the end of a paragraph, and isintended to be a short one as represented in the next line which iscoming toward the catches.

then the contact is retained from cominginto action and the bell is notrung. This is by reason of the short thick spaces x which are at the endof the line not being long enough to come below the end of the lever land uphold it, the lever is therefore turned downward by the action ofthe spring Z and the tail end of the lever th'en lifts the catch h asabove explained as shown at Fig. 10, and the catch is not drawn forwardand so no contact can be made. If the line passing below the catch it islonger than the limit allowed, then catch it is caught and drawn forwardby the type before the catch h and when itis brought against the stop 7ait is released and drawn back by the spring g before the catch h isrethe catch it has been drawn forward by the end of the next linesufficiently far for the contact pieces to have been brought togetherand the catch h will be released before the releasing of the catch hconsequently there will be no bringing together of the contact pieces.

The mechanism above described is placed close up to to where thecontinuous line of type issues from the composing machine, so that whenthe compositor is warned by the ringing of the bell that one of thelines is too long or too short, but little rearranging of the type willbe necessary.

What I claim is 1. The combination of the channel a, slides ff, springsg g for drawing the slides back, catches h it carried by the slides fordrawing them forward, and electrical contacts f f carried by the slides,and which if brought together complete an electrical circuit and therebycause an electric bell to ring or give other signal, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination of the channel a slides ff springs g g, for drawingthe slides back, catches h. h carried by the slides for drawing themforward, electrical contacts f f, lever Z, spring Z for putting themechanism out of ac tion when a line which has intentionally been made ashort one is passing below the catch it.

JOHN HOOKER. WVitnesses: l

H. CHAMBERLIN, Giicat Yarmouth and Lowestoft, lvofa-ry Pub- WALTER G.HOLMES, 7 Grosvenor Road, Lowestoft, Clerk to M essrs. OhamberZm dcLeech, Solicitors, Lowestoft.

